Radiofree West Hartford - John Kerry, Peace Protestors, and Young Foster Barton by Jan Ireland

John Kerry, Peace Protestors, and Young Foster Barton

By Jan Ireland

September 24, 2004

Missing from the major headlines today is the story of Foster Barton and a peace protestor. Perhaps the mainstream media is reluctant to examine the subject. Their favored presidential candidate, John Kerry, will not fare well when all the contributing factors are examined.

The 19-year old Barton is a volunteer, in the all-volunteer US Military. He currently is stationed in Iraq, though he has been home in Ohio on convalescent leave. Last month he almost lost his leg when an IED (improvised explosive device) exploded under the Humvee he was riding in, in Iraq. (Barton received the Purple Heart for this very significant, medical emergency injury, which required much more than a bandaid.)

He must have thought he was safe, on US soil, at a patriotic Toby Keith concert, walking back to the car with his 21-year old sister. He was sucker punched from behind, knocked unconscious, and viciously kicked and punched - by a "peace" protestor.

Barton's parents had given the recuperating young man tickets to the concert. He had missed performer Toby Keith's show in Iraq because he was on patrol. Keith is known for his unabashed patriotism and support of the US Military, and Barton's parents wanted to give him something special to help pass the time until he was well enough to return to his unit in Iraq - something he adamantly wants to do.

Carol Barton (mother) was interviewed this morning by Darrell Ankarlo out of Dallas, Texas. (Ankarlo has a morning show on Talk Radio KLIF, AM 570.) There were witnesses, she said, who did not intervene. At least they stayed to tell police the aggressor came completely from behind, and continued to pummel the young man after he was unconscious.

Mrs. Barton went on to talk about young men who came back from Vietnam, and how they were similarly treated. And this is the connection to Kerry.

John Kerry, 30 years ago, accused American servicemen of committing atrocities. He testified that his comrades had "…personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Ghengis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside …"

Kerry stayed a short time in Vietnam, collected lots of ribbons and medals, and went home to found Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He met secretly with Communist leaders, and his picture hangs as a North Vietnamese "hero" in a Communist museum. Yet now he is running for president on a platform of being a US military hero.

But the truth is emerging. Kerry's accusations are being effectively refuted by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, with ads running in different states right now. John O'Neill's book, UNFIT FOR COMMAND, is on the New York Times bestseller list.

Though Candidate Kerry is trying to paint the Iraq War as another Vietnam, young patriotic men like Foster Barton know the truth - even if they weren't alive when Kerry was telling his opportunistic lies. The fair and balanced Fox News, Talk Radio, and the rise of the alternative media of the internet have broken the monopoly former enjoyed by the liberal network news corporations, who tried to shape the news as they wanted it to be. The families of the men who were maligned are still around - and have not forgotten what Kerry did.

When he regained consciousness after the attack, Barton was asked if he knew where he was. He thought he was in "Iraq."

What a legacy for John Kerry. Kerry's "peace" protests engendered unreasoning hate for the military that lingers to this day.

That hate is fueled by Kerry's months of flip flopping on his position about the war, depending on his audience or perhaps the wind in his surf. It is exacerbated by his constant refrain of "failure" connected to the war, and the "lies" he tries to find in George Bush about the war.

Kerry once again is lying about America and war, to further his own political ambitions.

Foster Barton is lucky in one respect. At least Dan Rather and CBS didn't send their top producer to investigate. If that had happened, Foster Barton would undoubtedly have been the bad guy.